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About the Book

Questions regarding the relation between media and morality have been a lasting concern. Can media exposure shape or alter moral values? Does morality influence how audience members select, interpret and respond to media content? Attempts to answer such questions are hindered by the complex nature of morality and its dynamic relation with media.

This volume brings together leading scholars in an effort to examine reciprocal processes that connect media with morality, and to set a course for understanding this association. Individual essays combine established and emerging theories from media and moral psychology to explain how fundamental mechanisms that govern moral reasoning can shape and be shaped by media exposure. Together these scholars provide an understanding of the relationship between media and morality that should serve as an invaluable resource for current and future generations of researchers.

Table of Contents

Series Editor Foreword: Donald G. Godfrey

Foreword: Jennings Bryant, University of Alabama

Preface

Chapter 1: Moral Psychology and Media Theory: Historical and Emerging Viewpoints by Allison Eden, VU University Amsterdam, Matthew Grizzard, Michigan State University, and Robert J. Lewis, Michigan State University

Chapter 2: Universal Morality, Mediated Narratives, and Neural Synchrony by René Weber, University of California, Santa Barbara, Lucy Popova, University of California, San Francisco, and J. Michael Mangus, University of California, Santa Barbara

Chapter 3: A Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars by Ron Tamborini, Michigan State University

Chapter 4: Morality Subcultures and Media Production: How Hollywood Minds the Morals of its Audience by Dana Mastro and Marisa Enriquez, University of Arizona, Nicholas David Bowman, West Virginia University, and Sujay Prabhu and Ron Tamborini, Michigan State University

Chapter 5: The Experience of Elevation: Responses to Media Portrayals of Moral Beauty by Mary Beth Oliver, Erin Ash, and Julia K. Woolley, Pennsylvania State University

Chapter 6: Moral Disengagement During Exposure to Media Violence: Would It Feel Right to Shoot an Innocent Civilian in a Video Game? by Tilo Hartmann, VU University Amsterdam

Chapter 7: Moral Monitoring and Emotionality in Responding to Fiction, Sports, and the News by Dolf Zillmann, University of Alabama

Chapter 8: How We Enjoy and Why We Seek Out Morally Complex Characters in Media Entertainment by Arthur A. Raney and Sophie H. Janicke, Florida State University

Chapter 9: The Psychological Functions of Justice in Mass Media by Tobias Rothmund, University of Koblenz-Landau , Mario Gollwitzer, Philipps-University Marburg, and Anna Baumert and Manfred Schmitt, University of Koblenz-Landau

Chapter 10: The Role of Media in Children and Adolescents’ Moral Reasoning

by Marina Krcmar, Wake Forest University

Author Biographies

Selected Bibliography

About the Editor

Ron Tamborini (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1982) is the Director of Doctoral Studies and a Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University where he teaches courses on media influence and methods of communication inquiry.

About the Series

In 2008, the Broadcast Education Association initiated a new program promotion original research. The result was the creation of the BEA Research Symposium and publications. The purpose of the BEA Symposium is as a catalyst for future research. It honors leading scholars of the discipline and features their work along with new and upcoming scholarship. The Electronic Media Research Series was established in 2010. Along with the BEA Research Symposium Series, this series provides keystone research texts for those researching with the discipline. It will bring the reader up to-date relative to the topics and it reflect the current work within the field as well as providing a comprehensive bibliography and index, facilitating further research.